Monday morning
“Great students of Western high school!” The dean hailed.
“Great!” The students in the hall screamed.
“As you all might have known, our long awaiting day is approaching. The school trip. Am I the only one excited?!”
“No!” the students screamed.
“As we have always been doing. We’ll upload three ideal places we could visit so y’all should vote for the one you have in mind. Note that the highest count wins. Y’all ready for this?!”
“Yay!!!” they all chorused in unison.
“So while we’re here, let’s give a round of applause to the principal as he reminds us the do and don’t of the school,” the dean smiled as she watched the students clap.
“Good morning, great students of Western high school,” he greeted as soon as he held the microphone.
“Good morning!”
“As we all know, Western high school…” he began.
~
“What was the dean saying about the school trip or whatever?” Tiffany asked Zoey as they walked to the classroom.
“You see, the school trip is an event everyone in the school looks forward to. It usually happens once a year and it lasts for a week. Three adventurous places will be uploaded to the site and everyone will participate by choosing the place they all want, so we visit the place with the highest vote,” Zoey answered.
“But is all of this necessary? They could just come with a place themselves, what’s with voting about it?” Tiffany twitched her mouth in disgust.
“Western high school is not the usual type of school. Trust me, it’s very fun here when you have things your way.”
“You think so?” Tiffany rolled her eyes.
“Yes. The trip is in two months, so, you gotta see how everyone starts to talk and anticipate it,” Zoey answered.
“Tsk… I’m totally uninterested,” Tiffany hissed.
“Hehehe, I don’t care. You are joining the trip is all I care about,” Zoey tilted her head, curled her hand around her hand, and walked faster.
*
Short break~
“Zoey,” a guy entered the class and called out, looking around.
“What is it?” Zoey glanced at him.
“Declan requests your presence,” he answered.
“Why?” She frowned.
“You don’t expect me to know that, I only went to my brother who is in the same class as him and he told me to call you,” the guy answered, walking further into the classroom.
“Well, I’m busy,” she raised the novel she was reading with Tiffany.
“Say that to him when you see him,” he answered as he shook hands with his friends.
“Why is he looking for you?” Tiffany asked.
“Who knows, but I think it is regarding…” she was still saying when she heard a loud bang on the table in front of her.
“Why did Declan want to see you?” Lauren asked, her hands resting on the table.
“Oh, it’s you,” Zoey smiled and looked at her.
“How about you ask him yourself?” Zoey flashed a sarcastic smile.
“Are you flirting with my boyfriend?” Lauren raised a brow.
“Why would I do that when your so-called boyfriend suddenly takes interest in me?” Zoey smirked.
“Interest in you? Don’t make me laugh, please. There’s no way Declan will like someone like you! You are not even his type of lady,” Lauren hissed.
“Oh, that? Tastes do change, okay? Don’t sulk too much and get used to seeing us together already,” Zoey winked at her.
“Declan is not for you. He is meant for me, only me! So…”
“Claiming someone who has never even seen you as a lady? Huh, how shameless. You don’t know, Declan had said a lot of things to me about you. Do you know the one that got me the most? I bet you don’t know, the guy you’re claiming even sees you as a whore,” she chuckled.
“What?” Lauren furrowed her brows as she removed her hands from the table.
“He said that you are a whore,” Zoey tilted her head and stuck her tongue out.
“How dare you…!” Lauren raised her hand to slap Zoey on the face.
“Tsk… Come on, you shouldn’t do this,” Tiffany caught her hand right before it landed on Zoey’s face.
“Who are you?” Lauren hissed, trying to free her hand from the lady.
“Her best friend,” Tiffany said, not even sparing the lady a smile.
“Let go of my hand this instance!” Lauren yelled.
“Not so soon my dear,” Tiffany faked a smile.
“I said you should let go of my…!” Lauren was still trying to free her hand from Tiffany’s grip when the latter released it suddenly which made Lauren stagger and hit her back against the table behind her.
“Oops! That wasn’t me though,” Tiffany clasped her hands together and Zoey laughed.
“Yeah, I am your best witness.”
“The two of you… I swear…”
“Yeah, yeah, the bell that indicates short break over will be rung soon. So, get your àss outta here, I would not want to waste the next few seconds on you,” Tiffany said with an insincere smile.
“You…” and the bell was rung.
“Bye!” Tiffany waved her hand at her.
Lauren gritted her teeth in anger, kicked Zoey’s table that was in front of her angrily, and walked away.
Tiffany and Zoey turned to look at each other, laughed out loud, and then clapped their hands together in a high five.
“I doubt if she’s gonna let me go that easily,” Zoey pouted.
“You are just good with your mouth, you are damn fragile. How could you close your eyes when a hot slap was approaching?” Tiffany frowned.
“I know, right? Anyways, I have you. You will always protect me from the wicked, right?” Zoey made a puppy expression.
“Then, I gotta be by your side for the rest of your life,” Tiffany hissed and Zoey laughed.
“Come live with me then,” Zoey winked, as she leaned closer to her.
“Get out!” Tiffany pushed her away and Zoey burst into another round of laughter, ignoring the look from their classmates.
=
Lunch break, cafeteria.
“Let’s not take snacks today, let’s eat something better, please,” Zoey pouted.
Ever since Tiffany had joined the school, they had been taking snacks and coffee every lunch break.
“You can eat something better, I’ll go get my snacks,” Tiffany smiled.
“No, let’s eat something better, my treat!” Zoey raised her hand.
“Zoey…”
“There’s no big deal if I do this for us, Tiffany. Don’t let it bother you. You addressed me as your best friend earlier, can’t you accept things from me without letting it bother you?” Zoey said with a fallen countenance.
“Zoey, I know that…”
“Let me do this. You are my friend and I can do this much for my best friend, please,” Zoey whined.
“Tiff baby…”
“Tiffany…”
“Okay,” Tiffany smiled.
“Really?” Zoey widened her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Woah, I have an amazing charm,” Zoey smiled, grabbed Tiffany by her wrist, and hurriedly went to join the queue.
~
Tiffany glanced at her food which was a serving of fried rice, salad, and beef then looked at Zoey who was inhaling the steam of the food in front of her.
“Let’s eat,” Zoey smiled, grabbed her spoon, and then prepared to dig it.
“Hmm,” Tiffany nodded her head and then took her spoon slowly.
After a while…
¶¶
“It’s Aiden!”
“Gosh, he’s alone. I guess he’s no longer a member of Dax.”
“I really love seeing him with the other guys!”
“He’s so cute!”
“I love you, Aiden!”
¶¶
“Aiden is here,” Zoey said and Tiffany looked back slowly.
“Don’t stress it, he’s coming here,” Zoey teased and Tiffany eyed her.
“Hey girls!” Aiden waved his hand stylishly at them.
“Aiden,” Tiffany dropped her spoon and smiled unconsciously.
“Hi,” Zoey said and resumed eating.
“Did you miss me?” Aiden pulled a chair beside Tiffany and settled on it.
“I haven’t seen you since morning,” Tiffany said to him.
“Yeah, I attended class today. Good, right?” Aiden smiled.
“Whatever,” Tiffany rolled her eyes.
“By the way, I got something for you,” he smiled and stretched forward a polythene bag.
“What is this?” Tiffany furrowed her brow as she collected the beg from him.
Zoey snatched it from her, peeked inside it, and widened her eyes.
“Babe, it’s a school uniform!” Zoey covered her mouth.
“Why… did you get me…”
“Declan ruined your uniform so I got you another one. Since your size is in your profile, it was easy to get you another one,” Aiden smiled.
“But…”
“I’ll go get my food, I’m coming,” Aiden stood up and walked away.
“How sweet of him!” Zoey giggled.
“What are you saying,” Tiffany hissed.
“By the way, you looked so happy when you saw him,” Zoey said as soon as Aiden left.
“Happy? Excuse me, it’s the vice versa,” Tiffany grabbed her spoon and resumed eating.
“I see,” Zoey nodded her head.
“I’m serious,” Tiffany protested.
“Yeah.”
“I swear, I…” Tiffany stopped talking as soon as she saw Aiden approaching.
“You’re back so soon?” Zoey frowned then turned to look back at the queue.
“I haven’t lost my charm. Everyone is willing to let me go first,” Aiden dropped the food on the table and ran his hand through his hair stylishly.
“Except me. Who cares if you haven’t lost your charm?” Tiffany rolled her eyes, grabbed the bottled water in front of her, opened the lid, and drank from it.
“Wait, did you just admit that I have this charm that you also can’t resist?” Aiden turned to look at her and Zoey dropped her spoon immediately to focus on Tiffany.
“I never admitted it!” Tiffany snapped.
”But you said you didn’t care if he hasn’t lost his charm which simply means that you knew that he had charms,” Zoey interfered.
“Exactly!” Aiden snapped his finger.
“I didn’t mean it that way. I meant that who cares if…”
“Are you falling for me?” Aiden interrupted.
“Do you want to dîe?” Tiffany raised a brow which could send a shiver down someone’s spine.
“No,” Aiden shook his head.
“Now, eat,” Tiffany ordered and Aiden grabbed his spoon, bowing slightly.
“Woah!” Zoey laughed loudly.
“And you,” she glared at Zoey.
“I hate that look, girl!” Zoey hissed and grabbed her spoon.
¶¶
“It’s Declan and Xyler!”
“My Declan!”
“Declan looks so hot in that pants!”
“Xyler changed his hairstyle.”
¶¶
Declan and Xyler ignored the comments from the students and kept walking till they saw Aiden and choose to walk closer to him.
“Hi, ex-buddy,” Declan stopped in front of his table where Tiffany and Zoey were present.
“Oh, it’s Declan,” Aiden smiled.
“Are you still bent on not coming to apologize? You know, I’m a good guy. I’mma forgive you and let you back to the group,” Declan smirked.
¶¶
“Declan is soooo cool!”
¶¶
“Eyes service,” Zoey muttered under her breath.
“Really, dude?” Aiden raised a brow and stood up slowly.
“Yeah!” Declan spread his hands widely.
“Hug his àss,” he glared at Xyler then at Declan.
“What?” Xyler creased his brow.
“Face your àss to him and let him hug ’em!” Aiden tilted his head sarcastically.
“Oh, shît,” Tiffany nodded her head.
“You!” Declan got angry and grabbed Aiden by his collar angrily.
“You are still proud. Keep your pride to yourself and come apologize, dude!” Declan yelled and pushed Aiden which made the latter crash against the chair.
“You should keep your àss away from me!” Aiden dashed at him and punched his face.
¶¶
“Woah!”
“This is going to be fun!”
“I hàte this, I don’t want them to fight each other.”
¶¶
“Yeah… This is how it is supposed to be,” Xyler whispered to himself.
Tiffany frowned her face as she heard what Xyler had just whispered.
Gosh, how much she wished everyone could hear it at that moment.
That boy is bad. No wonder he isn’t tall.
“Well, how about I stop the fight?” Tiffany raised a brow and patted herself for her thoughts.
She stood up slowly, clapped her hands together, and then grabbed Aiden and Declan by their hair suddenly.
“Who the fûck is this!” Declan yelled.
“Is it so fun to fight each other?” Tiffany groaned.
“Let go of them, Tiffany,” Zoey stood up hurriedly.
“Well, I don’t want to,” Tiffany shrugged her shoulder off.
“Anny, stop this,” Aiden winced in pain.
“Promise not to fight each other again. The one you should fight is this àsshôlé here. This short devil should have stopped you guys from fighting, but instead, he was deriving pleasure from your fight,” she hissed and spared Xyler and killer glare.
“What the fûck are you saying?!” Xyler yelled.
Tiffany inhaled deeply, pulled them together, and made them hit their head together.
“You shouldn’t fight,” Tiffany hissed and return to her seat.
“Why did you do that?” Aiden groaned, rubbing his hand against his head.
“What a psycho!” Declan hit his feet on the ground angrily and stormed away.
“You guys were fighting,” Tiffany shrugs her shoulder.
“We weren’t…” Aiden stopped talking as he turned to watch Declan and Xyler walked out of the cafeteria.
“We weren’t fighting for real,” Aiden whispered.
“What do you mean,” Tiffany frowned.
“I’ll tell you guys, but it stays between us, promise,” Aiden stretched his palm forward.
“Promise,” Zoey said and placed her hand on his hand.
“Promise,” Tiffany added and then placed her hand on Zoey’s hand.
“Declan and I are on good terms. We are only doing this to figure out Xyler’s true intention,” Aiden explained.
“What do you mean?” Zoey asked.
“There’s something about Xyler, we think he’s got something on us. Declan figured out that what happened the last time was real and Xyler was lying. We need to figure out his real intention,” Aiden said.
“I know it! No wonder he said that,” Tiffany frowned.
“What did he say?” Aiden and Zoey chorused.
“He said… Nothing,” Tiffany pressed her lips together.
There’s no way they wouldn’t find her weird if she told them.
“Come on, Anny,” Aiden pouted.
“Tell us,” Zoey added.
“Okay, when you guys were fighting, I heard him say ‘Yeah… This is how it is supposed to be.”
“He said that?” Aiden frowned.
“How did you hear that? I didn’t hear him say that though, he was beside me,” Zoey creased her brow.
“Actually… I… huh… I…” Aiden’s phone rang which interrupted her and she heaved a sigh of relief.
“Hey,” Aiden said.
“How could you punch me that hard, do you have a problem with me before?” Declan hissed and Aiden laughed.
“You said you wanted us to make it look real.”
“And punching me that hard makes it look very real?”
“Hey, you pushed me hard also, you crashed me against their chair. I think my spinal cord is broken,” Aiden pouted.
”Wait, who invited Tiffany? She took it extremely personally. Is she always a nosy person. No wonder she is very flat, my scalp hurt damn badly because of that girl,” Declan complained.
“I know, right?” Aiden laughed.
“There are bruises on my precious face thanks to you. Let’s meet after school hours, I’mma kill ya!” Declan grumped and then ended the call.
“Who invited Tiffany? No wonder she’s very flat?! Woah!” Tiffany hit her hand on the table angrily.
“Who said that?” Zoey looked around.
“You heard that?” Aiden creased his brow.
“Of course… no!”
“You heard it,” Aiden chuckled.
“Zoey, did you hear my conversation with Declan? I mean, what he said,” Aiden asked.
“There’s no way I can hear that since your phone isn’t on speaker,” Zoey rolled her eyes.
“But…”
“Fine, I heard it,” Tiffany hissed.
“But… How?”
“Just. It was loud enough. You are sitting so close beside me, how could I not hear that,” Tiffany frowned.
“Oh,” Aiden nodded.
“That’s it,” Tiffany exhaled, quite happy they believed what she said.
Aiden stared at her and sighed, there was no way she could hear that. The call volume on his phone was at the lowest volume, so there was no way she could hear that.
Isn’t that strange?
Well, he wouldn’t suspect anything.
He’d believe what she had said.
It didn’t change the fact that he found her strange though.
*
TBC…